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Amistad - Supreme Court records

These records contain correspondence and court documents of the Supreme Court case related to the "Amistad." Claims of salvage of the ship, cargo, and slaves on board were decided by the Supreme Court in 1841. The case was a flash point for the abolitionist movement of the time. Handwritten records of this landmark case illuminate the conflict over slavery at that time, and are good examples of the operation of the US judicial system. The case was popularized in Steven Spielberg's 1997 movie.